Seed Today - Q3 2008 - (Page 15)

Texas Sorghum Non-GM HT Sorghum DuPont and Kansas State University Research Foundation are developing two new herbicide-tolerant traits for sorghum. The collaboration was announced in February 2008. The traits include an ALS-herbicidetolerant trait and an ACCase-herbicide tolerant trait. The new traits have been developed using conventional, nontransgenic methods, Seed companies will have the opportunity to sub-license both traits from DuPont. “One of the greatest challenges sorghum growers have faced over the years is control of weeds in the crop,” says Forrest Chumley, K-State Research and Extension associate director for research. “This is a huge step for sorghum production.” No commercialization date for either trait has been announced. Sorghum Acres Harvested for Grain Source: USDA Census of Agriculture Sorghum Factoids Keeping the Bugs Out Bonnie Pendleton, Ph.D., an entomologist at West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX, assists plant breeders and seed companies in selecting the most insect-resistant plants long before new varieties come to market. After the plant breeders have produced a new sorghum line or hybrid, Pendleton evaluates seedlings for resistance to different biotypes of greenbug aphids. Through the International Sorghum and Millet Collaborative Research Support Program (INTSORMIL CRSP), Pendleton collaborates with entomologists and plant breeders in African countries to evaluate new sorghums and pearl millets for resistance to sugarcane aphid, sorghum midge, millet head miner, panicle bugs, stalk borers and other insects. Along with her graduate students and African entomologists, Pendleton also evaluates stored sorghum and cowpea grain for resistance to storage in- Biomass sorghums sects such as maize weevil, cowpea weevil/bruchid, and lesser grain borer. “My graduate students and my husband Michael Pendleton, Ph.D., a scanning electron microscopist at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, have been working to try to determine reasons why grain of some sorghum lines are resistant to maize weevil while other sorghums are 50 percent destroyed after only 105 days in storage,” Pendleton says. The research is ongoing. • Sorghum is the world’s fifth largest grain crop—behind rice, corn, wheat and barley. It is grown on more than 107 million acres in 99 countries. United States, Nigeria, India, China, Mexico, Sudan and Argentina are the leading producers. • Sweet sorghum hybrids have almost equal yields of grain as from grain sorghum hybrids and significantly higher stalk yields. • The Rusni Distillery in Mohammed Shahpur Village, India, produces about 10,568 gallons of ethanol every day (3.8 million gallons per year) from locally grown sweet sorghum and some other feedstocks. • Sweet sorghum in India costs $1.74 to produce a gallon of ethanol, compared with $2.19 for sugarcane and $2.12 for corn. • Sweet sorghum can be grown from Florida and Texas to Canada. It grows in dry conditions and tolerates heat well. Southern U.S. growers often harvest a second crop from the original seeding. Third Quarter 2008 15

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Seed Today - Q3 2008

Seed Today - Q3 2008 Contents Editor’s Notes Cover Feature Fred Miller, Ph.D., MMR Genetics Crosbyton Seed Company AOSCA Greg Lowry Floyd Hansmeirer AOSA/SCST According to ASTA Seedsellers, Inc. BinMaster Blake Sieker Ad Index

Seed Today - Q3 2008

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